


We Have You

by AmbiguousPenny



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fargosh Implied, Josh’s Obscure DVD, Julia/Penny, Kady/Alice Implied, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Panic Attack, Penthouse Movie Night, Penthouse Sectional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22827328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbiguousPenny/pseuds/AmbiguousPenny
Summary: Movie Night at the Penthouse, a sometimes broken brain, some always supportive friends.
Relationships: Quentin Coldwater & Other(s), Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75





	We Have You

**Author's Note:**

> I write a lot of fic for myself but this is my first time posting anything! I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading!

The best part of the penthouse was the sectional in the living room. It was the perfect size for the rare occasion that all of the penthouse’s rotating inhabitants were present at the same time. Tonight everyone would be home for a semi-monthly group movie night. It was nice, when they were able to steal Margo, Josh and even sometimes Fen away from Fillory and Alice from her work at The Library. On movie night, Kady would take a break from being Hedge Boss in favor of popcorn and Josh’s gourmet rendition of pizza rolls. Penny and Julia were the only others besides Quentin and Eliot that seemed to be around the apartment the most often. And still it was a miraculous thing to have all of them together in one room to do something other than problem solving and research.

Eliot and Quentin had spent the day out of the penthouse, running errands, gathering snacks and alcohol. They’d stopped by a fancy liquor store to gather ingredients for a new cocktail recipe that Eliot wanted to try out in theme with one of the movies they’d selected for the evening, which they also stopped to pick up as it was something obscure that Josh had picked out, obscure enough that it was only available on DVD. Quentin had also picked up a small mending job for a hedge in SoHo that took them only a half hour to deal with. By the end of their outing Eliot could tell that Quentin’s mind was starting to wonder as it usually did when he was worn out.

When they returned home Eliot gathered the bags that Quentin had been carrying and sent him off to bed with a kiss to his forehead. Quentin didn’t protest, simply leaned into the kiss before turning and stalking quietly to their bedroom. He slept for the rest of the afternoon.

He was still asleep when the rest of the group started to gather.

“Where’s Q?” Julia was the first to inquire, as she settled against Penny in the right corner piece of the sectional.

Eliot sat down beside Margo who had stretched her legs out in front of her along the left piece of the couch, Fen laying nestled between them, her head rested against Margo’s stomach, Margo carding a hand through her hair.

“Today wore him out, he’s still sleeping. I don’t know if I should wake him.” Eliot said, torn up about whether or not Quentin would be more upset that he missed movie night.

“We will just save the best for last!” Suggested Josh as he handed Fen a bowl of popcorn before lifting her feet up to sit with them stretched across his lap. Eliot assumed the best meant that obscure DVD they had spent the better half of the morning hunting down.

“Yeah, let him sleep, it’s probably for the better, nobody is going anywhere soon.” Julia gave him a reassuring smile. It was nice to have someone else that understood the ups and downs of Q.

Around him all of his friends settled into their movie watching spots, Kady and Alice sitting on the floor in front of him, Kady with her head on Alice’s shoulder, their fingers intertwined. Julia settled into Penny’s side, Eliot tucked an arm around Margo’s shoulders, giggling at Fen who had already started pelting Josh with unpopped popcorn kernels. Each of them knowing to leave a spot open for Quentin to join them. Everyone was comfortable and content as Penny pressed play on the first movie of the night.

Half way through the second film there came a shuffle of footsteps down the spiral staircase, somebody presses pause and then standing before them was Quentin. His hair, long again, was pulled back and his eyes were sleepy. Eliot’s heart pangs a little at the way his mouth twists downward.

“You started without me.” And _oh_. Eliot feels guilty.

“I didn’t want to wake you up, I’m sorry baby.” He says, opening up his arms to welcome Quentin into them. To his relief, Quentin crawls into them easily, nestles himself against his chest. Eliot breathes in the smell of him. Margo reaches over to give his shoulder a squeeze.

“It was my fault Q, I told him to let you sleep.” Julia says from the other corner of the couch, with a sweet Jules kind of smile. Quentin lets out a faint little hum.

“S’okay. My brain is kind of broken tonight anyway.” He answers and Eliot nuzzles his nose into his hair, presses a kiss into it. “I just didn’t want to be alone anymore.” He whispers that last part against Eliot’s shirt, and El is sure that he is the only one who hears it. Eliot squeezes him, and starts to rub soothing circles on his back. Someone unpauses the movie as Quentin settles comfortably into him.

Quentin wasn’t really watching the movie, tucked into El, his brain still racing as soft hands rubbed his back, pressing occasional kisses into his hair. He tries his best to keep himself whole, tries not to ruin the night for his friends. Of course, despite his best efforts the odds are stacked against him. His brain is already too broken tonight. So suddenly, in a room filled with his closest friends, in the arms of his amazing, wonderful boyfriend, he feels unbearably alone. And then, beyond his control he starts to cry. It’s muffled at first as he turns his head into Eliot’s shirt, and he feels a little guilty for getting it wet, but then it bubbles into one of those full body cries and he’s trembling, a hot mess in El’s steadfast arms which are wrapping themselves tighter around him.

“Hey, baby hey, what’s wrong?” and he can’t speak. He doesn’t even know what’s wrong. And he’s crying harder.

A soothing hand slips into his hair, combing through it with gentle strokes, _Margo_. And then the couch dips and _Julia_ has moved closer, she pulls his feet into her lap, gives them a squeeze. There is a third hand, wrapped around his ankle, thumb moving in little circles, _Penny_ , his arm out from where it had been wrapped around Julia’s waist to make contact with him. And then there is a pair of arms snaked around his waist, _Alice_ , nuzzled into his hip. A hand rubbing circles into his back, _Kady_. Another hand on his shoulder, slender hands reaching out to hold his, _Josh_ and _Fen_ , who are standing behind them now just to reach him. Every single one of them reaching out to touch him, to prove his own thoughts wrong, that he wasn’t here alone.

“I’m sorry.” he chokes, quiet and broken.

“Baby no.” _Eliot_ squeezes, they all do.

Even Penny squeezes the grip he has on his ankle.

“We have you, brother.” Penny says, and they all hum in agreement. Their words, their hands on him are enough to ground him again, to slow his mind, bringing him back to a place where he is seen, and loved, and wanted.

“Thank you.” Quentin whispers into a room full of people who know every part of him, and love him anyway. He makes his way back slowly after that. Fen and Josh settle back in with Margo, whose hand is still in his hair. Julia doesn’t let go of him either. Penny leaves his hand on his ankle. Quentin turns just so, so that he is able to watch when they switch to Josh’s obscure DVD. Eliot holds him impossibly close until he is warm and safe again.

Things are okay in the penthouse.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you!


End file.
